In its renewed “unified” attempts to desist countries from buying crude oil from Russia, the US has asked the G7 group to impose tariffs on Russian oil-buyers like India and China in order to cut off Moscow’s funding and stop the war in Ukraine.
US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, and the United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, were on a call with G7 Finance Ministers on Friday when they reiterated US President Donald Trump's call to the bloc's partners about imposing tariffs on countries purchasing oil from Russia so as to apply sufficient pressure on Moscow to end “the senseless killing”.
G7 is an intergovernmental bloc of rich, industrialised countries comprising the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK. Canada is the head of the rolling G7 presidency this year.
François-Philippe Champagne, Canada's Minister of Finance and National Revenue, chaired a meeting of G7 Finance Ministers to discuss more measures that can be taken to increase pressure on Russia to end its war against Ukraine.
In a post on X, Champagne said Canada, as part of its G7 Presidency, “remains committed to working closely with G7 allies to increase pressure on Russia and support Ukraine's long-term security and recovery”.
Also Read: Trump asks EU to levy 100 pc tariffs on India
“Russia's increasingly aggressive stance, including recent bombings in Ukraine and Wednesday's violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones, and its unwillingness to agree to a ceasefire have prompted this G7 meeting,” he said in a statement, and state further that “G7 Ministers agreed to accelerate discussions to further use immobilised Russian sovereign assets to fund Ukraine's defence, and to explore other mechanisms that would allow further increasing financial support to Ukraine”.
Meanwhile, after the call, a statement by the US Treasure Department stated that if the G7 partners are “truly committed” to ending the war in Ukraine, “they should join the United States in imposing tariffs on countries purchasing oil from Russia”.
While the statement did not name any country, the US has often blamed India and China for purchasing Russian oil and even imposed the highest secondary tariffs of 50 per cent on Indian goods as “penalty” although there are no tariffs on Beijing for it.
Secretary Bessent and Ambassador Greer also asked for a “unified effort that cuts off the revenues funding (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war machine at the source” to “apply sufficient economic pressure to end the senseless killing”.
“Thanks to President Trump’s bold leadership, the United States has already taken dramatic action against the purchasers of Russian oil. We are encouraged by the assurances of our fellow G7 nations that they are committed to ending this war, and we are hopeful that they will join us in taking decisive action at this critical time,” the statement added.
The US’s decision to impose doubled tariffs on Indian goods for India’s purchase of Russian crude oil has been dubbed by New Delhi as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.” India maintains that its energy procurement, including buying oil from Russia, is driven by national interest and market dynamics.
Relations between the two countries have since soured, and the sixth round of negotiations between them, which were due in August, called off.
India and the US had earlier announced plans to conclude the first phase of the India-US bilateral trade agreement by the fall of 2025.
Trump accepted in an interview on Friday, that his decision to impose tariffs on India had caused a rift with the country.
In an interview with ‘Fox and Friends’ when asked what clamping down on his Russian counterpart entails, the President said: “Look, India was their biggest customer. I put a 50 per cent tariff on India because they're buying oil from Russia. That's not an easy thing to do. That's a big deal and it causes a rift with India.”
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